Making Space
by BrigitteRenee
Summary: Catherine needs some outside advice to realize that her and Steve are basically already living together and should just make it official.


Making Space

Steve and Catherine

Rated: T

Disclaimer: I own nothing

She didn't even really notice it at first, until she was practically already living there, but Steve was slowly moving her in. She didn't think that he noticed it either and it wasn't until Kono, her and Gracie were having a girl's night at her apartment and Gracie had spilled ice cream on her shirt. She sent Gracie into her room to grab a new shirt while she washed hers. Grace came out of the room and sat down on the couch. "Where are all your clothes Auntie Cath? Last time I was here your closet was almost full, now you don't really have any clothes in there."

"I guess they are at Uncle Steve's house."

"If all your clothes are there then why don't you just live with him? I mean you are usually over there whenever Danno and I visit anyway."

Kono laughed "Yeah Cath why don't you and the boss just live together? You drive to work and leave together every day."

Catherine thought about it and she didn't even realize that she really wasn't living in her apartment anymore. She only came here to pick up stuff when she needed it or when they were having a girl's night. "Well Grace, your Uncle Steve and I haven't talked about it."

"You guys should talk more. Danno says you talk without words, but my teacher said that you need to have good communication to keep a relationship. He said that without good communication people make assumptions which is why he and his wife are getting a divorce."

Kono burst out laughing again "That's great advice Grace, but I don't think that your teacher should be telling your class about his divorce."

"Okay enough talking about me, let's get back to this movie marathon. Grace it is your turn to pick."

During the movie she started thinking about what Grace and Kono had said; she did basically live with Steve. It started with the little things.

A few months ago, Steve was called away early in the morning for a case before she had started working with Five-0, just before she retired from the Navy. She went for a run and then went into the kitchen to grab some breakfast before she went to the store to grab a new book. She made herself some coffee and went into the fridge to see if she could find something to act as a creamer; when she opened the door she found Almond Butter which she used as a creamer if she had the option. She also saw a jug of her favorite juice. She had smiled and drunk her coffee before reaching for one of Steve's granola bars in the cupboard. In the cupboard she had found a box of her granola bars as well. At the time it didn't really seem like much, but looking back he went out and got all those things for her.

Then about a week after that she grabbed her toothbrush out of her duffle bag to brush her teeth after dinner. In the holder where Steve usually kept his toothbrush there was an unopened toothbrush that matched the toothbrush that she currently held in her hand. She heard him enter the bathroom to brush his teeth tooth and when he reached around her he said "When I got myself a new toothbrush I grabbed one for you too."

She didn't really think that he got the implication getting her a toothbrush for her at his place would mean to another woman. She just thought that Steve, as usual was thinking of the convenience of having a toothbrush here and at her apartment. So, she just used the toothbrush and didn't say anything.

And then about two weeks ago she was digging through her bag looking for one of her shirts that she thought that she had brought with her. Steve came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. She turned around and looked at him just standing in her bra and jeans. "Have you seen my gray tank top?"

He put his arms around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her "Are you sure that you need to get dressed?"

She pushed away from him "Yes, I need to get dressed. We have to get to work."

"Fine, but I want a rain check." He walked over to a draw where he usually kept his tshirts and pulled out a shirt and tossed it to Catherine.

She looked at it "this is my tank top. Why is it in your drawer?"

"Actually it's in your drawer, I put all your shirts that you have left her in this drawer." He said it like it was nothing, and pulled on some shorts and headed down to make then some pancakes.

She pulled open the drawer and say that it had about fifteen shirts, she then pulled open the next drawer and found her shorts and pants. The next drawer held her bathing suits and socks. And another drawer, the largest, held her bras, underwear and lingerie. She smiled and just pulled on her shirt heading downstairs.

She came back to attention when Grace and Kono started throwing popcorn at her.

"Auntie Cath, we have been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes. We want to order some pizza now that we finished out dessert, since we are doing dessert before dinner. Are you good with pineapple and ham?"

"Yeah. I'll order it for us."

The rest of the night was a success and they all fell asleep watching movies. The next day they were all headed to the spa, while Danny, Chin and Steve were going fishing.

Catherine drove them all to the spa where they were going to get facials, pedicures and massages. Then they were having lunch after the massages and then could be continuing on with their spa day. Once they were done they are going to head over to Steve's house and eat what the guys caught.

They arrived at Steve's house shortly after 4pm to find Steve and Chin standing at the grill with longboards while Danny was hanging some clothes over the railing of the deck. When they saw the girls arrive Grace ran over to Steve to show him her nails and then ran over to her father. Catherine and Kono grabbed Longboards from the cooler by the deck and then made their way over to the grill.

"Hey what happened to Danny?" asked Kono

Chin laughed "Danny had some issues reeling the fish in; instead the fish reeled him in. He isn't exactly happy with us right now because rather than help him out we laughed at him for a while and took some pictures. When we pulled him out he decided that we were done; it was a good thing that we already had plenty of fish."

Steve pulled Catherine inside the house under the guise of getting the sides. He pushed her against the kitchen counter and kissed her. "Hmmm how was your girl's night and spa day?"

"Good. We had a great time, especially Grace. She felt so grown up spending the day at the spa with Kono and I." She kissed him back. His hands snaked around her back and began to push her shirt up, but she pushed his hands away. "We are supposed to be outside with our friends and Grace is here. This can wait until later."

"Well then I can't wait until later." He kissed her once more and then stepped away from the counter to grab the salad and Catherine grabbed the fruit platter. They made their way back outside and brought it out to the deck table. Chin was taking the fish off the grill, so they all sat down and ate together.

That evening Catherine laid her head down on Steve's chest, her hand rested on his stomach tracing circles onto his abs. "Last night the Kono and Grace asked me some questions and that got me to thinking about our living situations."

"This seems to have you really thrown off because you are usually straight forward. Is this one of those 'we need to talk' conversations?" His arm tightened around her.

"Yes, I mean we need to talk, but it is nothing bad. I have most of my clothes here, we go grocery shopping together, my bathroom stuff is here, and I spend most of my nights here. My apartment lease is up in a month and a half; should I bother renewing it? Are we living together? This is the first time in our relationship that I am unsure where we stand. I mean this is the first time we have even been in the same city together for more than a month since Annapolis." She rolled so she could look at his face.

He rubbed his hand down her back. "Cath, I never meant to send you any mixed signals. I want you to move in with me; I thought that you knew that. I just didn't think you were ready for that step. I mean you got an apartment when you moved to the island; I thought that you were going to move in here; you spent the night here almost every night on leave and then you got an apartment; I thought that you were telling me that you weren't ready."

She smiled "I never thought that I would say this, but Danny is right for once our silent communication didn't work."

He smirked and pulled her to lay completely on top of him "Lieutenant Rollins, will you move in with me?"

She leaned up and kissed him "Commander McGarrett, I thought you would never ask."

"Mmmm, it seems like we are in need of a celebration." He rolled them over and kissed her again.


End file.
